I am hoping to write this in a completely positive note.

We celebrated my Dad’s 85th birthday dinner in North Carolina this weekend. We had dinner under a tent. Good thing, because it was pouring rain in my sister’s back yard.  Most of my immediate family was there; no extra friends, aunts or uncles. It was an intimate party. My parents had 8 children, and there are 23 Grandkids plus 4 great Grandkids. It was the perfect  party with just “the family”.

My parents are great. They are in good health, and drive themselves, mostly Dad, wherever they need to go. They travel from New Jersey to Saint Louis, Colorado, Michigan, Texas,  North Carolina and beyond. They get interesting books on tape and off they go. I love that I don’t know where they are half of the time.

Back to the party. Dinner, was the result of an extended e-mail discussion among the siblings, of course. I stayed out of it the best I could. I have three sisters and a brother in North Carolina, so it was their deal. We had a delicious Southern dinner. Chicken breast with white rice and parmesan cheese sauce, shrimp and grits in a cream sauce, scalloped potatoes, some kind of cute little southern biscuit, and darling individual tomato cheese pie. We had sweet tea, of course, to drink, and Birthday Cake for dessert. It all was quite a treat and good quality creamy Southern Comfort food.  Halfway through dinner, I realized there was nothing green on my plate. Not a vegetable in sight. A kid’s dream come true!

The top of the cake. We are all pieces of candy:)

Breakfast was another matter. We spent the night in a hotel with a free breakfast. There were powdered scrambled eggs, tasteless bacon, waffles with fake syrup and fake butter. There was nothing satisfying about the food. You wanted to add ketchup to your eggs, extra syrup to your waffle…etc. You get the picture.  You tend to eat more because nothing is satisfying.

I don’t want to be a food snob but what I realized is you eat a totally different way when the food is high quality organic fresh food. You come away feeling nourished. You can use a small amount of organic butter and the best maple syrup on your waffle for a treat with organic scrambled eggs and delicious no-nitrate bacon and you have quite the feast. You tend not to over do it. You step away feeling good.

Just to top off the trip, we stopped off at a rest area with vending machines. Pretzels and M&M’s for lunch! Last night, we had roasted vegetables for dinner and got back to normal.

Back on THE PROGRAM today!  I did my HIIT and Foundation Training. Feeling great, sometimes you just need to step off the path.

Love,

Mary

Mom and Dad enjoying a Southern dinner under a lantern lit tent. Beautiful~